Set in Stone
by GreenGreyBlack
Summary: Their story was set in stone.


**_Set in stone_**

_It is the marble and stone in the great palace that knew best._

_Only they saw what the others hadn't seen._

_Sometimes when people can't speak, stone does._

_It may crack up, it may wear out, its softness lost, rendered coarse and rough._

_Yet the most overwhelming is when it stands still, still against place, still against storms, still against time whose nimble hand only carves on its surface barely visible scribbles._

_They become the only surviving witness, the only monument left standing, a testament to heart wrenching stories, to sacrifices, to people who made the wrong choices._

_Ah, If their cracks were illegible,_

_If the stone could cry, _

_If the alabaster could bleed against its own snow-white skin._

_Their story was set in stone._

* * *

_Their voices rose to fill the great hall of the palace, bouncing off the marble pillars, echoing._

"_you can't go through with that, Odin, you will destroy them" Frigga's words so full of anger and contempt were directed to him, cold , sharp, unwavering as though they'd knock common sense into her all wise husband _

"_I can see no obstacle against my plan" _

"_No obstacle, I beg to differ" mockery was evident in her tone._

"_You can't see the affinity between Loki and Sif. Odin, you will crush Loki by this, we will lose him forever, haven't we had enough since Loki's last rampage? I remember that we have been through hell and back, had it not been for this despicable Thanos, he would have never returned._

_Have you considered the Lady Sif's opinion in this? And Thor, he can't see Sif that way, he is still so immature for such a responsibility. I am telling you Odin, this will destroy our family; it might as well cause an irreparable rift between Thor and Loki. Odin, don't play match maker, leave them be."_

"_Do you think I am doing that as some sort of recreation, a folly business just as to amuse the court? Do you think I care so little for my boys, Frigga?" he burst._

"_Prove otherwise then, abandon such foul scheme"_

"_You are aware of my intention to pass on the throne to Thor, aren't you? You know he will need a loyal, faithful, beloved queen like yourself beside him. you heard of his infatuation with the midgardian woman, haven't you? Will you allow such atrocity to go on? Do you think she will be a worthy queen of Asgard? You know well of Sif's popularity among the people, you know of her and her family's military skills, you are more aware than me of the criticality of such skills to a king, plus she is the only one who can literally knock common sense into Thor, as a queen should be."_

"_well, it seemed I failed in such task" she could never see reason in her husband's sick logic, she turned her back on him and walked away, praying her heart out to god, to sway her husband's mind, or end it with the least possible damage._

* * *

_Odin has left._

_He emerged from the shadow._

_He had no other destination to go to, he had to tell her, they had to figure out something._

_He knew that by now she would have left the on going feast and retired to his chambers._

_She noticed how irritable he was once he entered._

_He went on pacing to and fro, circling the room. she knew better than to disturb him in this mood._

"_What am I going to do? What the hell am I supposed to do?"_

"_About?" she asked cautiously_

"_he is planning to marry you to Thor" _

"_Come on Loki, these rumours have been circulating for years, you have been saying that for ages"_

"_I heard it straight from his own mouth"_

"_Whose mouth?"_

"_The all father" he replied impatiently._

_Her eyes widened in fear and anticipation, she had always dismissed her 'impending marriage to Thor' as brainless court gossip, never had she once taken it for true._

_He sat beside her on the bed, his head in his hands._

_She froze beside him in silence for god knows how long._

_The air was still, so still that they felt suffocated._

"_So, what do you say?" he finally choked_

"_I don't know, I just don't know what to do"_

"_You what?" he incredulously inquired "I thought you should say no"_

"_And?"_

"_And what?_

"_You know shall I say no, we will be obliged to leave this realm for good, where shall we go? Don't say Jotunheimr, with all due respect, you know that I don't belong to there, plus Thor's affections for the mortal are taking its toll on his popularity amongst the people, enemies can use such fall out and people might be driven to do something stupid or worse Tyr could jump onto the throne and then all the nine realms would be drawn to chaos"_

"_They have sworn Loyalty to the all Father" he replied_

"_Exactly, to the all father, not to Thor and definitely not to you"_

"_So, where does that leave us?" he wanted an answer, a clear one now_

"_I can't let my home be torn; I will do what I have to do to protect Asgard"_

"_I wouldn't care less for the welfare of great Asgard, Vanir" he venomfully hissed_

"_I expected nothing more; you were never for fidelity, Jotun"_

"_So, it is Thor, then"_

"_It is Asgard" she corrected_

"_You do realise what you are doing to yourself, to me, to us?" he was now yelling at her_

"_Loki, Just…."_

"_Just what?" he laughed bitterly "what would you tell me? What words would make it better, Sif?"_

"_I ….."_

"_just know, you are in this alone, Sif, I amn't going to be a shadow in this. I may still be at odds with Thor, but I will not do anything to stab him in the back"_

"_you think this low of me"_

"_no, Sif. I am telling you the plain truth that you should put in consideration, it is me or him, now walk away, Sif, Leave" _

_The first rays of the sun were shining through his curtains._

_It was Dawn that broke them apart._

* * *

_The wall of his chambers were closing on him, he just kept banging his hand against the wall as though they would open up, let him catch his breath, he hit onto then till his hands bruised, he hit hard enough for them to indent had they been anything but stone._

_She didn't train that day._

_She would inadvertently kill anyone who would face her off in training this day._

_She took it on a poor white marble pillar in her chamber, clashing her sword against it, harder and harder that the sword was bent, that the pillar bore scratches._

_They haven't spoken since that fateful day._

* * *

_Everything ran out quite quickly from Odin pressuring Thor, to Sif agreeing._

_It was the wedding day._

_She was the most beautiful bride in all the nine realms. The golden crown shining against the black of her hair._

_The dress, from the finest of silk, with the most delicate of intricacies._

_The crowds cheering and hailing the Bride and Groom, the king to be and the queen to be._

_The most luminous day of Asgard._

_Everyone, save the queen and the warriors three was oblivious to how sad Thor was._

_To how Sif's eyes were incredibly shining and glistening, clouded with tears and pain._

_To how Loki's face was impassive, so impassive, dead like. _

* * *

_It hadn't hit him till this moment._

_How excruciating it was, watching her be given away._

_It hadn't sunken in until this moment that he had lost her forever._

_It wasn't easy, the next few days._

_it was too much for him to bear, seeing her with him, everyday._

_Hearing the court's remark about the golden couple._

_The pain was excruciating, vague._

_Sometimes it was numbing, the others it would be throbbing through his heart._

_Every breath he took, he felt was his last, he wished would his last._

_He couldn't drag himself out of bed for entire days._

_He couldn't sleep._

_He has never felt so powerless in his life._

_He was fading._

_He had to flee._

_He departed on a delegation to the wastes._

* * *

_He didn't tell her, he was leaving._

_He just simply took off, not even a farewell._

_She felt so empty, so sad and …no, not betrayed, he was now just a friend, a brother, nothing more._

_she sank to the ground and leant against the stone walls of his chambers._

_She wasn't crying, no she wasn't._

* * *

_He was starting to build a life in Jotunheimr; his fellow frost giants weren't that dim after all._

_He seemed to lie his way through them, gaining their trust._

_The fact he was Laufey's son helped (he kept the little truth about Laufey's Death a secret)._

_He was kind of, sort of official king in Jotunheimr._

_He still felt dead._

_She was engrained into every part of his being, weaved through his magic, she was his shadow, his horizon._

_Staying away from her was simply death, misery in its purest form._

_Yet, he can't go back._

_It would lead to his ultimate insanity._

* * *

_They were pressured into an heir, which they were both reluctant to give._

_Thor ventured to Midgard more often, more than should be, she was grateful for it._

_Thor's Soul seemed to be on Midgard, he was as unhappy with the arrangement as Both Loki and Sif._

_He was saddened when Loki left as well._

_He misses him, he misses the mortal, he misses Old Sif, and he misses himself._

_Still, they had to submiss._

_To say that the Birth of their son was the best thing that happened to both of them in their lifetime would be an understatement._

_His cries echoed against the walls of their Chambers._

_His cries ploughed joy in the hearts of his Parents, his grand parents and the whole of Asgard._

* * *

_He was hurt._

_He was happy._

_He was hurt, he felt so lonely, so bleak and turned over, weary and old, so old._

_He was happy for his brother, he was happy she moved on, she found light. _

* * *

_She had to fake a smile or a laugh everyday, _

_Thor had to play the doting husband for the short while he'd spend in Asgard, as well._

_Their lives became so screwed up._

* * *

_It was inevitable; he knew he had to visit Asgard at some point and he dreaded it with all his heart._

_His mother sent out for him to come, for she misses him, his brother misses him._

_He does as well._

_He just doesn't want to fall into the bottomless well again._

_Yet it seemed to draw him, to call out for him._

_He arrived as a king should do._

_He arrived in his Jotun Form, much to most Asgardians dismay._

_He no longer cared._

_He would be what he was born to be._

_His heart leapt at the sight of his mother, the first to receive him at the staircase of the palace._

_Seeing his old friends was a delight as well._

_He found himself searching for her._

_She gathered every inch of her mettle to receive him._

_She had to look fine._

_She had to pretend she was over him._

_He could see right through her._

_her attempts at masking her feelings were so feeble._

_She was so frail, as though life was withering out of her._

_It rushes back to both of them, once they meet, they are back to start point._

* * *

_He was introduced to the new addition in the royal family._

_The boy had his father's hair; otherwise he looked so much like her._

"_so, my friend" Fandral said "you are staying single forever, come on, every king needs a queen" _

_He didn't answer. He didn't know what he should say._

* * *

_He changes back to his Asgardian form during the rest of his stay._

_The tension between the three companions (which was non existent long before) was so thick now._

_Yet still, Some of the essence of life returned to Sif._

_She seemed to come back to life every time she looked him in the eyes._

_As though prior her soul was trapped into his verdant mirrors, locked away and taken to Jotunheimr._

_Now it is back to its owner._

* * *

_He had to leave again._

_The remorse and regret at his visit comes to him._

_He shouldn't have listened to his mother._

_He shouldn't have come, for now, the pain is reawakened, raw and fresh, the broken heart aches anew and he feels so lost and confused. _

* * *

_They all came to see him off._

_All, except her._

_You can't die twice._

_So why does she feel as though, she did?_

_She couldn't see him off, whatever she tried, she couldn't._

* * *

_Life was slowly sucked out of her, her eyes were expansive and void._

_Her health was detoriating; she couldn't carry the weight of a second child._

_She lost the child, she fell into coma._

_Something similar to the Odinsleep, Eir had said._

_Words travelled to JotunHeimr._

_He had to depart for Asgard._

* * *

_They hadn't stayed in a room for this long since a very long time, it was so sad how they drifted apart._

_They both Stayed beside her._

_Thor was a loyal friend and a merciful man, who wouldn't abandon his friend (now wife) especially when ill._

_Loki had no proper title to stay, no proper attachment._

_Thor didn't question him, didn't ask him to leave._

_Despite how his dignity and pride itched._

_Thor's snores were loud enough to wake the dead_

'_She must be worse than dead' he deduced_

"_Thor" he called out "Thor" he repeated severally (loudly) _

"_What, brother?" Thor slipped he semi sleepily answered._

_Suddenly they were both alert to the fact that since the incidents in New York years before, Thor hadn't called him 'Brother'_

_One missed the taste of the word on his tongue._

_The other missed the melody of the word in his ear._

"_You should go to your chambers, get some proper slumber, I will be here." Loki kindly offered._

"_But….."_

"_Come on, Thor. I know you well enough, it is a miracle that you have lasted this long"_

_Thor complied._

* * *

_He leaned against her, so his breath is just caressing her earlobe, his voice nothing but a gentle whisper,_

"_you know, Sif, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like, had I done better, had I not screwed up in the first place and earned the people's disdain, had I fought harder, prevented you from marrying Thor, even if it meant enchanting or abducting you. Of all the people I know, you are the least calculating, Sif. I should have protected you from yourself, from doing something beyond your forte. It isn't a battle that you can conquer with sword and glaive. Someway or another, not everything turns out alright in this life, yet I promise in the other, I will do better, beloved. I will do better for you, for us. Now, though you have to rise, you have to rise, not for you, not for me or for Thor, for Asgard, For your son, he needs you, more than you know, Unless you want him a mindless bellower like his father. I love you, Sif, more than you will ever comprehend, keep that in you mind and heart, till this mess is untangled or till our world falls apart."_

_A week later, her eyes stir open._

_Frigga, Thor and her son are there._

_He is hiding in the shadow, invisible._

_She asks for him, he is no where to be found._

* * *

_He would visit -hidden- and see her nourished to health for the upcoming days._

_It was the last day._

_He showed himself while she was asleep._

_He planted a gentle kiss to her hand and charmed her dreams to be of happier times._

_He saluted them and moved on to his departure._

* * *

_Years have passed,_

_The line of succession fell on to Thor._

_He was now king._

_The peace between Asgard and Jotunheimr was less tentative than it used to be._

_Delegations were exchanged, treaties were made and signed._

_It has become better._

* * *

_Creatures of fire, creatures of magic and creatures of other unknown realms have decided to raid Asgard._

_There stand blue and gold against the raids._

_Here stands green and red intertwined._

"_A sight to behold, aren't we?" Fandral drawled_

"_Just like the old days" Hogun commented_

"_I see your grim disposition has softened" Fandral mocked._

"_It is just the occasion, who would have thought after all these years we would be reunited on battlefield yet again?"_

* * *

_Cries and yelling,_

_Smoke and fire,_

_Fog and frost,_

_Rage and red,_

_Chaos sweeping all over the land._

_They aim for the king, and the king takes it._

_They aim for Thor and Loki takes it._

_They cradle his body in their arms, both Sif and Thor._

"_Why?" grief biting at the edge of his voice_

"_For Asgard…..Jotunheimr…Sif and your son…you can't die Thor, you have a lot to take care of, I have nothing"_

"_You have your kingdom" Thor Managed to choke between the tears_

"_No, yours Thor, line of succession falls to you, brother"_

"_Just, hang on, a little"_

"_No, it is time, Thor, I just …..love you Thor, my brother and friend" he managed to heavily utter between the splutters of Blood._

"_And, you Sif, till the end of Time, and beyond, Sif, I will keep my promise in the other life"_

_A bloody cough, one very heavy breath, one shudder and his gone._

* * *

_His funeral was fit for the greatest of kings, one that rivalled Odin's._

_He was sent off by the highest of ranks in both Asgard and Jotunheimr._

_He was mourned by those who thought him unworthy prior. _

_She knew if she started mourning, she wouldn't be able to stop._

_She would mourn for him, for her._

_She would mourn forever and still, she wouldn't be able to honour him enough, to cherish his memory._

_So, she locked it away in her heart and mind, till it became so heavy for her to bear._

_Sometimes she would drift in a world where he would still be alive, where everything would be fine._

_Sometimes she would become so absorbed and deluded in her world of imagination that she would linger in it for months._

_Then she would come back to reality, lock herself up, and become depressed._

_Such cycle, till she faded for good._

* * *

_Ragnarok has ended, Asgard is deserted, the grand palace stands still, air stagnant._

_Only pillars of alabaster stand tall._

_Only walls of stone remnants,_

_Telling the tales of a city that existed and burnt._

_Upon which engraved, the tales of kings and queens._

_Scribbles and carves of love stories, painted black and red, pain and sacrifice._

_Roughness upon walls of bitter times._

_Testament of three worthy people, who may now be in a place of happiness and benediction._

_Testament of two lovers, who may have found a happy ending in another life._


End file.
